And another key figure with Speight in the May 19 coup last year, former army Special Forces leader Ilisoni Ligairi, was appointed campaign manager.

Both men are held in a temporary prison on Nukulau Island off Suva and charged with treason following the coup.

During the coup, the government of Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, was taken hostage and ousted.

Electoral Commission chairman Ratu Josua Toganivalu, in a radio interview last week, said Speight could contest the August elections, which will return Fiji to parliamentary government. This is because Speight has not been convicted. But he warned that if convicted, Speight would have to relinquish any seat he wins...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (April 29, 2001 – FijiLive)---Former President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara told Fiji TV last night that he had told former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Police Commissioner Isikia Savua that they had something to do with George Speight's attempted coup on May 19 last year.

Mara said he made the comments on May 20 in the presence of Rabuka, Savua and acting army commander Colonel Alfred Tuatoko.

Asked about the two's reaction, Mara said: "You could see it on their faces."

He said Rabuka said something about being at the army camp on May 14, the anniversary of the 1987 coup.

Rabuka had called Mara on the day of the coup, saying he was ready to help. He had asked him to see him later that day.

Savua, he said, was at a meeting with Jioji Konrote, the permanent secretary for Home Affairs, on the Thursday before the march, but he didn't see a heavy police presence at Parliament or on the streets during the march.

The Greenpeace spokesman is quoted as stating they are campaigning for an end to "Star Wars" (U.S. missile defense program) but not for the closure of Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands, which employs 1,200 Marshallese.

Of course, Greenpeace and any other reasonable observer understands that if "Star Wars" ends, Kwajalein Missile Range will likely close, or at a minimum, greatly reduce staffing in response to greatly reduced operational requirements.

Greenpeace is silent at their Web site (see: http://www.greenpeace.org/); the last update posted is for April 5. I have heard a rumor that, in fact, the Rainbow...

A week after Pacific Island countries declared their unanimous support for the proposed South Pacific Whale Sanctuary, a new poll (1) shows Eastern Caribbean people also support the proposed Sanctuary by a margin of four to one.

The poll result flies in the face of Caribbean government votes against the South Pacific sanctuary at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Adelaide last year.

People living in the six Caribbean members of the IWC were asked whether or not their countries should support the establishment of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary. The MORI poll found over half (54%) support the Sanctuary, and only 13% oppose it (2).

Last year the IWC failed to support the Sanctuary proposal, largely because Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines...

HONOLULU (April 26) -- The U.S. Navy's decision on Cmdr. Scott Waddle drew heated criticism from Japan's main opposition party this week, intensifying public scrutiny of the U.S. military at a time of political change in Japan, an East-West Center researcher said.

"This marks the possibility that the Japanese government's handling of the issue will be politicized," said Sheila Smith, a Japan specialist at the East-West Center. "It could be the Democratic Party of Japan trying to mobilize public support for the coming election."

The DPJ released a statement saying the decision to give Waddle administrative punishment instead of making him face a court-martial could arouse intense anger among the Japanese toward the U.S. Navy. The DPJ also suggested that the decision on Waddle, the captain of the submarine that caused the death of nine Japanese, may also undermine the U.S.-Japan military alliance.

Pago Pago, American Samoa (April 26, 2001 - Samoa News/PINA Nius Online)---An American couple was the only party to submit a bid by deadline to purchase the American Samoa's Rainmaker Hotel, the Governor's legal counsel Henry Kappel said.

The same couple made two separate offers last year to purchase the money-losing, government-controlled 180-room hotel.

Items from the SAMOA NEWS, American Samoa's daily newspaper, may not be republished without permission. To contact the publisher, send e-mail to

The 250 workers in Honiara and Noro, Western Province staged a sit-in strike to protest delays by the company to give workers pay raises, long service benefits and danger allowances.

General Secretary of the National Union of Workers Tony Kagovai said the deal includes a wage increase of 4 percent effective from October 1, a long-service benefit scheme and a lump sum of $1,000 danger allowance to Noro workers.

On behalf of the Papuans of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches of Irian Jaya (West Papua), I would like to draw your attention to social and political development in West Papua. We fear that, because of the unwillingness of the Government of Indonesia to enter into a meaningful and peaceful dialogue with the people of West Papua, the situation has reached a deadlock.

Since May 1, 1963, when the UNTEA transferred the West Papua territory to Indonesia, the people of West Papua have been the victims of systematic human rights violations at the hands of the Indonesian Government and army. These abuses include arrest, arbitrary detention, rape, torture, intimidation, killing and other egregious injustices.

The Papuan have suffered for over thirty-eight years (1963 to 2001) as a result of the fraudulent...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.